Podróż (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 340-2) by Opowieść is an album with a message – another one that’s perhaps a closed shop to non-Polish speakers, but don’t let that put you off investigating this bracing and intriguing oddity of gloom.
The very name of the band Opowieść translates as “a story”, and the album title is intended to convey “a journey”, a theme that’s as old as story-telling itself. A small army of musicians and vocalists were involved in the concoction of this layered edifice, which musically veers from clotted thickened rock-sludge to menacing drone chambers across its ten weighty chapters. We might single out the contributions of vocalists / lyricists Łukasz Rudalski and Bartek Glanc, but there are three drummers in this orchestra who all pound the rocks like sullen cavemen, and the moody guitar work of Dominik Pędziwol (sometimes called Zandoz) is considerable.
As to what the story is about, “attentive listeners will understand what and how”, we are informed, and in fact not all the lyrics are in Polish…certain moments rendered in English, such as the punkoid anthem ‘Przejście’, indicate that the threats facing mankind are numerous and imminent, and that our long-term survival is not going to be a picnic. The cover art by Maja Gajewska is part of the concept too, with its puzzling runes and symbols that might be a map to our destination, and foreign-seeming towers dwarfed by a stone goddess. This is originally issued with an 18-pp booklet inside a six-panel digipak, which I lack on my promo copy, but I’ll bet seeing those lyrics printed out would help you to navigate through this mysterio-noir narrative landscape. It’s the exact obverse of a Jon Anderson LP like Olias of Sunhillow, a soppy epic which is far more benign and optimistic in intent, but I only mention it because Opowieść don’t seem averse to carrying a prog-rock vibe (along with the punk rock, Joy Division, doom, electronic and other tasty elements).
Jointly released with Bat-Cave Productions. (09/01/2025)